In an earlier post I mentioned advertisements, 1) carry a certain kind of informational value about the past, and 2) offer a certain kind of insight that assists us in interpreting it. This can be true for printed matter such as books or tracts; for institutions like colleges and benevolent or missionary agencies; or for informational, persuasive, or propagandistic statements.
This ad, for hymnals, is another illustration. Composed by Charles Reign Scoville, Music Publisher, it announces that a new edition of Christian Gospel Hymns is off the press. We learn the first printing of this new edition numbers 20,000 copies and is “making a new selling record” apparently approaching with projections to surpass the 270,000 copies sold of Songs of the King. We also hear commendations from several “singing evangelists.”
Now, considering the genre of the advertisement, we might use it in a few ways. Perhaps we could use the hard numbers to determine the aggregate impact of several or all of Scoville’s hymnals. Or we could compare these figures against others for similar books. Or we could note that the commendations (Arkansas and New York excepted) come from across the Midwest. Or we could compare the rhetoric of hymnal advertising: what themes recur (if any). We could compare the pricing of these books against the size and selection of songs. We could compare these facets of hymnal publishing against other books. The list could go on.
The ad appears in Christian Standard 46: 21 (May 21, 1910), at the top of page 905.
Christian Standard 46: 21 (May 21, 1910), page 905
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